Aluminium and cerium co-doped ZnO nanoparticles: Facile and inexpensive synthesis and visible light photocatalytic performances

Abstract

Abstract Facile combustion route synthesized Al and Ce co-doped ZnO nanoparticles photocatalysts were characterized using XRD, SEM, BET, EDS, UV-visible DRS, PL, photocurrent and EIS techniques. XRD and SEM analyses identify that crystallite and particle size is reduced from 13.26 to 11.88\xa0nm with introduction of Al and Ce into ZnO which assists inhibiting the recombination of photo generated charge carriers. UV-visible DRS spectra indicate that optical assimilation of ZnO is significantly increased to visible region (∼406\xa0nm) and band gap reduces from 3.18 to 3.06\xa0eV with introduction of Al and Ce co-dopants. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis under visible light illumination confirms the enhancement in visible light activity of Al and Ce co-doped ZnO nanoparticles as photocatalysts. The enhanced activity of Al and Ce co-doped ZnO photocatalyst can be ascribed to enhanced light assimilation, high surface area and efficient charge transfer process. Our results reveal that by incorporating precise amount of Al (∼2%) and Ce (∼2%) into ZnO, a highly efficient catalyst can be synthesized that have degraded almost 95% methyl orange (MO) dye in just 45\xa0min. Further, the influence of various operational parameters such as solution pH, catalyst dose, dye concentration, airflow rate and light intensity on photodecomposition of MO was evaluated. Furthermore, a possible mechanism for Al and Ce modified ZnO was proposed and designed photocatalysts demonstrates good stability in aqueous medium.